Day 3 in Hawaii: Honolulu

November 13, 2010

We slept in a little and then began to pack our bags so that they were ready to take to port later that afternoon. We headed down to the breakfast and had a little wait since it was later in the morning, around 8:30am. We had a nice breakfast at the buffet and headed out. 

We walked a block from our hotel to pick up THEBUS #22. We took THEBUS to Diamond Head Monument. It was $5 for a way for two people. It dropped us off and it was about a 5-7minute walk to the entrance of the park. MAKE SURE YOU WEAR SNEAKERS!! You walk up the road and through a tunnel. You entrance through a toll booth, it is $1 donation per person to enter. There is a truck to purchase waters, which we did and off we went. The hike is not an EASY one. We are young and semi-in shape so it wasn’t awful but we were tired afterward. There are many stops to look at overlooks. The views are amazing. It is worth getting to the top. You can see all of Waikiki from the top. The entire round-trip to Diamond Head was 2hours. We took our time and stopped for pictures. After our hike, we treated ourselves to shaved ice. It was delicious!

Where THEBUS drops you off

Walking up to the tunnel

Through the tunnel you go

Once on the path of the hike up

First outlook

Mr. H trying to be funny, out look 2

On the hike.. through the tunnel

Outlook 3

STEEP STAIRS, 99 of them

Spiral stairs up

Views from the top

Views from the top

Beautiful views

Yummy, shaved ice

We walked down to the Community College to the Farmer’s Market to check it out yet we got there around 11:15am and it ends at 11:00am. We saw some of the items but we couldn’t buy anything. 

Beautiful Orchid from the Farmer's Market

We hopped back on THEBUS and headed back to Waikiki. We went to lunch at Duke’s. We sat by the railing with great views of the beach. We enjoyed cocktails and a light lunch. 

Our View from lunch

We left Duke’s and headed back to the hotel to get our shuttle from the hotel to the port. We had our shuttle scheduled to pick us up at 2:00pm. Our bags were already in the lobby waiting for us. Our shuttle arrived at 2:00pm and took us to the port. It was about a 10 minute drive. They pull you directly up to the pier2 warehouse. We got our bags and into the warehouse we went. You walk through the warehouse, first to take your picture. We took our embarkation picture with two people, one male & one female dressed in Hawaiian garb and the ladies were given a flower to put behind our ear, right side if you were single & left side if you are married. 

Views of our ship

How the bus drops you off directly at warehouse

Before I knew the story of putting the flower on the LEFT side

About to go up the escalator

Next, we got into line; you have to fill out a simple form. It was a quick and easy process. There were a lot of counters open and we did not wait long. They were very efficient. We were on our way onto the boat in less than 20 minutes from the time we arrived at the warehouse. We took the escalator up to the level that enters the boat. You walk onto the fifth floor, right at the lobby area. When you enter you will see the front desk, excursion booth, and East Meets West restaurant to your right, the grand staircase and elevators to your left, as well as John Adams Coffee Bar. 

Walking onto the boat

Grand staircase

Hawaiian music playing as you enter

Floor in front of the front desk

Ceiling of the lobby

Hawaiian dancer

We headed directly to our room, which was already ready when we boarded. When we got to our door, neither of our rooms keys would open our door. We headed back down to the front desk and they explained to us to try to keep our room keys away from our cell phones, especially direct contact. My DH had his key in his pocket next to his cell and I had my cell phone and key in hand! OPPS! They explained that is deactivates the stripe. They replaced them and off we went back to our room. We stayed in room 8172. We arrived to our room and it was very clean, neat and stocked. Our gifts, from my sister a honeymoon present, were there presented nicely on our desk. **ADVICE:** I had heard this before and forgot the power strip at home, but if you have electronics, hair dryer (which is already in the room and has decent blowing power), cell phones, etc.... BRING A POWER STRIP! The outlets are limited and do not always fit the outlets correctly, such as my hair dryer did not fit into any of the outlets properly do to the size of the plug. I used the room's and it was okay.

The Hallways

8172, our room

Our room

Our gifts for our honeymoon

Checking out the closet, which had plenty of hangers and space

Shelves and Coffee Maker

Balcony

Overpriced Mini Fridge

Bathroom

We explored the room a little and then decided to head out to explore the boat. We had some time to waste until the Munster drill which was at 4:30pm. We walked around the ship checking everything out.

The pool

Each floor has a mural from the USA

Skyline/Liberty Dining Room

Skyline

Jefferson's Bistro

Jefferson's Bistro

Model of the POA

East Meets West- Asian Restaurant

Inside of East Meets West

Waikiki Bar

POA

Aloha Cafe- the main buffet



Views of Honolulu

At 4:30pm, we had to report to the Munster Drill, which was very different than our last Munster Drill on Carnival. Each stateroom is assigned an area to meet, it is also on your room key. Our assigned area was the back of the Skyline Dining Room. You go to the area, sit and watch your leader demonstrate how to properly wear the life vest, as well as rules and sounds that we would need to listen to/for in case of an emergency. The best part was we were in air conditioned restaurant, sitting WITHOUT our life vests! You DO NOT need to bring the vests with you, they just recommend you double check there are enough in your room for the number of guests staying in your room, which we had plenty! After the drill, which lasted about 15-20mins....We found our way to the Ocean Drive Bar, next to the pool area. We were greeted by two bartenders, both very friendly and talkative. They explained to us about the Pub Crawl that was happening at 6:00pm and they HIGHLY recommended us joining in the fun! 

Bar Menu with prices

We watched the sunset from the deck and then we decided to take their advice and off we went to the Gold Rush Saloon to sign up for the Pub Crawl. 

Sign ups started at 5:30pm and there were three staff members there to help with sign up. The Pub Crawl is $20 per person and it is well worth the money. It was a lot of fun. First you sign up and they give you a “nickname” for the night. They write your name on duck tape and you wear it throughout the pub crawl. As the crawl is about to begin, they explain the “rules”, all of course are funny and outlandish, but added to the fun!! You stop at 5 bars with 5 different drinks! We met a lot of people and enjoy ourselves. 

Mr. H's was "THE MYTH"

Mrs. H was "THE BOSS"

Round 1

Our NCL leaders for the Pub Crawl

Drink 1

Drink 2

Drink 3

Drink 4

Drink 5

After the Pub Crawl ended, we headed back to our rooms to find our luggage had been delivered. We showered and changed and headed back out. We decided to go to the pool deck again and drink a few beers to relax before heading to bed. When we got our beers this time, they explained the beer special. You can buy a bucket of beer, you get 6 beers for the price of 5. You can choose any beer you want, even mix and match! We choose Big Wave of course. They give you the 6 beers in a bucket of ice with a bottle opener attached. We enjoyed a few of the 6 beers then headed back to our room to go to bed!!